To be born Russian, to remain Russian
And save this happiness,
When and wherever to wander–
Such as grandfathers ,to lay down in earth.
Nikolai Yevseyev

вторник, 5 мая 2009 г.

5 days till the Victory Day (9 of May)

SOVIET PAINTINGS OF WORLD WAR II

An army parade was, in keeping with a tradition, held on Red Square on November 7, 1941. The parading troops left Moscow for the western front.

K.Yuon, The Red Square parade of November 7, 1941.

Moscow, 1942

AT THE BATTLEFIELD

It took the enemy nearly a month (June 22 to July 20) to seize the Brest Fortress. The defending troops pinned down no less than an infantry division supported by tanks, artillery and aviation. Most of them were killed, but a few men found a way to join the guerrillas, although some, mostly heavily wounded men, were taken prisoner.

P.Krivonogov, The defenders of the Brest Fortress. 1951

It took the Germans 250 days (November, 1941 to July, 1942) to seize the Black Sea city of Sebastopol. The troops defending that city thwarted the enemy plans at the southern stretch of the frontline.

A.Deineka, The defense of Sebastopol. 1942

PLACES OF WAR ACTION

The wartime routine, the truthful depiction of the developments stunned those who first saw paintings and drawings of the war years. Art is powerful inasmuch as it enters life. The Nazis broke the world record of war crimes. They razed to the ground thousands upon thousands of villages and cities. The soldiers and officers of the German Wermacht were told to kill "any Soviet they would meet, be it an old man or a woman, a boy or a girl." They would have to kill everyone, they were told, if they wanted "to stay alive, secure a good future for their families and have generations to come glorify their names."

A.Plastov, A Nazi Plane has flown by. 1942

S.Gerasimov, The mother of a guerrilla fighter. 1943

M.Samsonov, The Little Nurse. 1953

T.Gaponenko, The occupants have been driven away, 1943-1946

VICTORY

The Act of the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces was signed in Karlhorst, near Berlin, on May 8, 1945. The Soviet Union had for a long time been pining up for the victory. There were new developments, new faces and new moods to paint. The post-war paintings spelt out a new message: the happiness of being alive and hope for a happy future.